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Fiona walked up the stairs with a gentle smile on her face, finally there seemed to be a small victory. She pushed back the door to Lip's old room to see Ian sitting up on the edge of the bed.
He hadn't sat up like that in nearly two weeks.
They'd had to call out a doctor to come and see him, tell them what they already thought was true. Ian had protested against them moving him, it had made Fiona's heart ache to watch him sob and cry as Lip and Mickey brought him back home.
Mickey had argued it too, said that he was fine to stay there with him, better even if he did, but Lip offered his bed and Fiona told him that he was welcome to stay for Ian, but that he needed to be with his family.
It had taken a long time to convince him, and it was only when Mandy talked him into it that he finally agreed to help them. That was when he moved in along with them,
The doctor had prescribed a list of medication for Ian, it had taken a few days to gather enough money to get some of it, the rest Veronica had stashed at her place and she didn't hesitate in handing it over to the Gallaghers.
So every day since they've had to find a way to get Ian to take the medicine. They could usually get him to do it, if there was one thing they could make him do, it was that, and today he was sitting up on the edge of the bed with a weak smile for Fiona as she walked in to see him.
"You're up." She said.
"Guess I am." He croaked, his voice hoarse from barely using it the last week or so.
"Can I get you something, you hungry at all?" She asked, walking over to sit next to him on the bed.
"Yeah, a little," he said. "Where's..."
"Mickey's at the Alibi, takes a lot of effort to convince that boy to go anywhere recently." She smiled, putting her hand over his on his knee. "Couldn't get him out for a week."
Ian let himself smile a little.
"I'll give Kev a call, get him to send him over."
Ian nodded and leant into Fiona's shoulder, to which she wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him into her tightly. She planted a kiss on his forehead and let out a sigh.
"So I guess I'm the Monica, huh?" He said, chuckling a little and Fiona let out a short laugh.
"Looks like, but don't worry, turns out I'm the Frank."
He laughed, "You're not the Frank. You care to much to be the Frank."
She kissed him again. "Yeah well, same for you. I'll go downstairs and call Kev then I'll come up and help you to the living room for a sandwich?"
He nodded and let her go. "Sounds good." He said quietly.
She stood up slowly, parting with a smile before heading downstairs. Debbie sat in the kitchen with Carl and she looked up to gauge Fiona's reaction as she came in.
"He's up." She said, unable to hide her brimming smile.
"What?!" Debbie said.
"Can we go see him?"
"Don't go up there, don't rush him. I'm going to bring him down here and then it's a hug each and just keep your distance okay? We gotta do this slowly, wait til he's ready." She said and they both nodded.
Fiona took out her phone and dialed the number for the Alibi. Kev picked up after a couple of rings. "Hey Kev, it's Fi, can you send Mickey over here, it's Ian."
She waited a few minutes before going back upstairs for Ian. He had pulled on a T-shirt over his boxers and Fiona wrapped an arm around him to help him downstairs. After barely eating for so long he felt quite weak.
As she sat him down on the couch both Debbie and Carl stood in the archway between the kitchen and the living room with curious stares. Ian gave them a smile and Fiona nodded them in.
They each took a side and hugged their brother tighter than they ever had before and Debbie had to hide the fact that she was crying.
"Come on guys, you can help me make him a sandwich. What do you fee like?"
They pulled away reluctantly and Ian shrugged. "Anything'll do right about now."
The three of them left the room, Carl only going back to give Ian a blanket. They sat at the bench just looking in at him. It was like they didn't want to take their eyes off him in case he went backwards, in case they were imagining this slight improvement.
So they made him a sandwich and took it in to him. He ate slowly but at least he was getting it down. Fiona took a seat next the the two of them as they watched him, he wasn't doing much, but at least he had some sort of will today.
It wasn't too long after that when the kitchen door behind them swung open to Mickey crashing through it.
"What happened? Is he okay?" He asked out of breath.
Fiona just smiled and turned back to the living room to see Ian looking back at the sound of Mickey's voice.
Mickey swallowed hard. It was the first time he had seen Ian out of bed - at his own will - in two weeks. He shed his coat off and dumped it on the table, walking slowly towards him, his eyes scanning every inch of him as if he were a mirage that would disappear if he looked away.
"You're up?" He said softly as he reached the living room.
"Seems like it." Ian said.
"When... when uh..." He mumbled.
"Not for long..." He bit his lip before standing up to face him fully. "Mick I-"
He didn't have time to say it because Mickey had closed the gap between them and was holding them together and crashing his lips into Ian's.
His hands reached up to cup his face, kissing him again and again like he might lose him. Ian's fingers locked around Mickey's wrist, keeping him there and not letting him relinquish their embrace.
"You can't... you can't just-" Mickey whispered.
"I know... I'm sorry..." Ian breathed between the rare spaces in their lips.
"You gotta... stay on your... fucking meds... you hear me?" He begged frantically.
"I will... I'm sorry..." Ian tried to reply, still not wanting their kiss to ever stop.
"Don't apologise... just... don't..." Mickey said again, only pulling his lips away to bury them in the nook of Ian's neck.
Ian's arms were breaking circulation as they clamped tightly around his waist but Mickey's grip was just as tight around his shoulders and they kept whispering short fragmented sentences to one another with any breath they could muster.
Fiona felt her eyes get glassy as she watched them and she sighed.
"Fiona?" Debbie said quietly.
"Yeah Debs?" She sniffed.
"You think someone will ever love me that much?" She asked, just as unable to take her eyes off them as Fiona.
She pulled her in under her arm. "I hope so Debs." She nodded, kissing her head and smiling because that's all anyone could ever hope for.